


Possibilities...Endless

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Various States [14]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies), War Horse (2011)
Genre: Alien Technology, Death by Smile, Gen, Investigations, Jealousy, Loki Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2013-11-19
Packaged: 2018-01-02 02:30:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a strange rock-box crashes to Earth, Loki is a little angst ridden, jealous as well as paranoid, while Skye believes Jim has the power to control people with his smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possibilities...Endless

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last one-shot/chapter before the Various States version of Thor 2. It sets up some things for the Thor 2 story, currently titled Chasing the Sun and in the works as you read this. 
> 
> This story is a cross-over with Agents of SHEILD. (And War Horse, as Jim makes an appearance.)

**Disclaimer: If you know it, I don’t own it.**

* * *

_Under water where thoughts can breathe easily / Far away you were made in a sea / Just like me_

_-Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Parallel Universe”_

* * *

“So, what’s cracking around here?” 

Skye was somewhat bored, as it felt as if they’d been flying around in circles for weeks without an assignment. She slouched up onto a stool and watched Simmons measure out something smelly into a beaker. 

“Not much. Just running some samples,” Simmons replied. 

“It is gonna blow up?”

Simmons shook her head, giving Skye a sympathetic look from behind her ugly goggles. 

Skye sighed. 

“We’ve got an assignment,” Stealth Coulson announced, standing in the doorway to the lab. “Might need a jacket.”

And with that final warning, he vanished.

Five hours later, the plane touched down at an what appeared to be a military base in Anchorage, Alaska. While they did tend to land often at military bases that weren’t actually military bases but in fact secret SHEILD bases, this seemed to be an actual military base. (There was a distinct lack of the SHEILD logo on everything.) 

(Why SHIELD seemed to think they were a secret organization was beyond Skye, as they put their logo on everything.) 

“Why’re we at a military base?” Skye asked, coming up along side Couslon as the hatch opened to reveal a rather thin, tall, blond man wearing a navy blue checked suit. He was rather…pulled together and lacked the usual straight laced vibe SHEILD agents gave off. The guy had a military air about him, though, yet he had his hands in his pockets and he was rocking back and forth as if he was nervous. The moment he saw Coulson, his whole face lit up in a blinding smile. 

Whoa.

“Captain Nicholls,” Coulson greeted, walking down the ramp towards the man, who was oddly enough standing outside their plane by himself and not with a crew of soldiers or SHIELD agents. As they reached him, she noticed he wore a military badge, stating his name, rank, and other random information. 

“Agent Coulson,” the man greeted with a upper crust British accent. “I’m glad you were able to make it so quickly. I was afraid the Chitari helmet would give you more trouble. I’m amazed I wasn’t called in.”

“Luke was able to give us what we needed quickly and we got our own story out before you were needed,” Coulson said. “Any further word from the military?”

“No, sir, they’ve been quiet,” Captain Nicholls replied. “They do not know much more than I do and all I’ve been allowed to do was look at the cube— which they didn’t wish to allow me in the first place.”

Coulson quirked an eyebrow at the taller man. 

“I assured I knew two very clever scientist that could give Stark a run for his money,” Nicholls went on. 

Coulson smirked. “Well, I brought them with me, Captain, so you didn’t lie.” 

The man cringed somewhat at being called by only his rank. 

“Anybody going introduce the rest of the band?” Skye asked, aware Ward, May, Fitz, and Simmons had disembarked behind her. 

“Of course. Team, this is Captain Nicholls,” Coulson said, motioning to the taller man, who gave them all a light shattering smile.

If that guy didn’t stop smiling, he was going to kill them all. Never mind in the suit he was dead hot (seriously, more guys ought to dress up in suits more often), he sounded adorable. And then he had to go and smile. 

Death by smile. What a way to go…

“You can call me Jim,” the man assured, beaming smile still in place. 

“Captain Nicholls, this is Agents Ward, Fitz, Simmons, and May. Oh, and our consultant Skye.”

Nicholls raised one blond eyebrow, but continued to pleasantly smile. 

“Unfortunately, she has no last name,” Coulson said, sounding as if he was apologizing to Nicholls for some flaw Skye possessed. “So, what are we dealing with? I take it the military got deeply involved going by that badge you’re wearing. Surprised you’re not in uniform.”

Skye glanced at May and Ward to see if they thought this conversation was weird. May looked as she usually did (expressionless), while Ward appeared a little confused. 

Good. At least she wasn’t alone. 

“Ah, well, I’m retired,” Nicholls proclaimed, looking down at himself. “Feels a bit strange.” 

“Understandable,” Coulson agreed. “So, the details?”

“They wish to keep it quiet, its true nature,” Nicholls said, motioning for the group to follow him to a nearby hanger. “From what I’ve been able to glean, it is alien, but not a race we’ve dealt with before. It’s something new.”

“From this universe?”

“I believe so,” Nicholls said, opening a door to the hanger. “I’ve acquired transport to the site. I did notice you come with your own, but I believe it’d best if we travel together.”

“I’ve got all my equipment with me,” Simmons said, smiling up at Nicholls and looking a bit star struck. “Where…”

Skye looked to the left and saw a rather large SUV that was clearly military and not SHEILD as it lacked a logo. 

“There should be room in the back, Agent Simmons,” Nicholls said, somehow still smiling as he looked down at Simmons. (He was seriously tall, as he loomed over all of them (except Ward).) “We’ll only be going downtown, as unfortunately that is where the artifact fell.”

“You drive?” Coulson inquired.

“It was a requirement. Since her accident, Ms Witton refuses to drive and Anchorage isn’t exactly the easiest city to get around if you do not drive.” 

“How does Ms Witton get around?” Coulson asked, watching while Fitz and Simmons loaded their stuff into the very back of the SUV.  

“She takes the bus,” Nicholls replied. “Though, she does rather like that I can drive her to the markets or grocer.” 

Skye frowned. The last word slipped passed his lips easily, but it just sounded…old fashion or something. 

“Grocery store,” May said, stepping around Skye. “We call it a food store or grocery store. Not sure there’s any grocers there these days.”

Nicholls looked mildly embarrassed. “Yes, you’re correct Agent May. I’m still figuring out the vernacular.” 

“Why?” Skye asked. 

Raising his eyebrows, Nicholls turned towards Skye. Under those baby blues, Skye wanted to forget her confusion and inkling there was something greatly wrong with civilian dressed hottie Captain Jim Nicholls. His eyes were filled with things Skye hadn’t seen in someone’s eyes before: joy, mirth, happiness, pain, loss, and sorrow. All at once. 

She shook her head to clear away the fog he had set upon her when he looked at her.

God, those eyes. Besides a killer smile, he of course had dreamy eyes.

Dreamy eyes? How old was she?  

“Why do you have problem with the ven…with the way we talk? Is it because you’re British?”

The man chuckled, turning away from her to open the driver’s side door. “Sorry, Miss Skye, but you fail to have clearance for that information.” 

“It’s just Skye,” Skye corrected. “No Miss needed.” 

He looked greatly uncomfortable for some reason as he got into the SUV. 

Skye looked over at May, who simply opened the back door and motioned for her to get into the car. Skye trudged over and got in. 

The ride into town wasn’t all that exciting. 

“Can you tell us _anything_ about the cube?” Simmons asked as they drove. “Did no one really see it clearly enough to see it wasn’t a comet?”

“No, it seems they did not. Many saw it fall, but it created a fire, so no one was able to get near enough to it once it was on the ground,” Nicholls replied, eyes on the road. “You ought to have the report the military has put together in your computer post.”

“Email,” May corrected. 

“Ah, yes. Email,” Nicholls said, slowing the SUV down near a huge, white tent that had reporters swarming around it. He parked and opened the door. Instantly, he was surrounded by various reporters asking questions left and right. He simply smiled, held his hands up, and said, “I’ve got no new news for you. We’re still investigating it’s origins and have brought in a team of scientists that will hopefully shed some light on why this comet’s fallen to Earth.”

“We all know it’s not a comet, Captain Nicholls!” someone shouted. 

Nicholls smiled again, which for some reason seemed to lull the reporters and cause them to back off a bit. They still shouted questions, but they were no longer crowding around trying to get at Nicholls. Turning to Coulson, he motioned for him to follow. Everyone fell into line and went through the flap Nicholls opened up for them. Once inside, they were greeted with what appeared a rather large explosion that was somehow contained to the center of the intersection that was currently tented off. 

“Well, here we are. The object is still in the center there,” Nicholls said, sounding a little too cheery. Several American military personal turned and greeted him…rather enthusiastically. Nicholls introduced everyone, looking uneasily as he introduced Skye by just her first name.

 “Well, I’ll let you all get back to work,” Nicholls said, smiling. 

“Aw, Nick, you going already?”

“Captain, why don’t you stay,” Coulson suggested, guiding NIcholls by the shoulder over to the soldiers, who seemed thrilled to be able to speak to Nicholls for some odd reason.

* * *

 

_But I cannot forget, refuse to regret / So glad I met you / Take my breath away / Make everyday worth all the pain that I have gone through_

_-Maroon 5, “The Sun”_

* * *

It felt like a lifetime, but Steve was finally out of his old apartment and fully moved into Loki’s apartment (now also Steve’s apartment, no, _their_ apartment). Many of Steve’s old furnishings littered Loki’s apartment, a making the once astute, modern space feel more homey. Things were perfect.

Almost too perfect, hence why Loki did not question why he was awake before the sun rose, worrying about the comet that had fallen in downtown Anchorage. Jess assured Loki it hadn’t harmed anyone and only destroyed the intersection of 5th Avenue and G Street, but it nagged at Loki.

A comet fell in the middle of a populated area without warning? And without hurting anyone?

“Loki?”

Loki looked up from the tea kettle where he had been scowling at his own reflection and found a mussed looking Steve Rogers staring at him. 

“Yes, Steven?”

“What are you doing up?” Steve asked, rubbing a hand through his messed up bed head. 

Loki dumped water into his tea cup and raised it to hide the smile that was breaking loose over his face. It was simply not fair for someone to look so adorable right out of bed. 

“I couldn’t sleep any longer,” Loki admitted. “Thought it was best—”

Loki didn’t finish his thought as he phone beeped. He picked it up off the sleek, white surface of the island and read the text.  

“I swear that child attracts all things alien,” Loki muttered, opening up the next text that came through. Seeing his phone was much too small to figure out what he was looking at, he set the phone down and went in search of his StarkPad.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, staring at the counter. “Who’s texting you at this hour?”

“Coulson.”

“Phil?”

“Do we know another Coulson?” Loki called as he found the StarkPad in the living room. He opened up the text message on the larger screen and studied the object that was clearly not a comet.

Loki had _known_ it wasn’t a comet.  

“What is that?”

“Something Coulson’s new team is befuddled by,” Loki murmured. 

“Coulson’s new team?”

“Yes, he got promoted after the attack on Malibu,” Loki murmured as he studied the strange, square shaped rock. 

Steve frowned. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“I have no idea. Maybe its beyond your clearance level,” Loki casually said. 

Steve continued to frown, but moved to look over Loki’s shoulder. “What is that thing?”

“That, I do not know. It doesn’t appear familiar. It’s not from any of the Nine Realms that I am able to tell. Nor is it from…where the Chitauri reside.” 

“Then what is it?”

“I fail to know,” Loki admitted. “And that worries me.”

“Why?”

“We do not know what exactly the threat of _Thor 2_ will be besides a Dark Elf,” Loki reminded Steve. “What if this is how it starts?  There are so few Dark Elves alive, how do they raise an army? Where did this evil one come from? What doe she want?”

Steve turned the StarkPad upside down, frowning as he traced the strange writing on it with his finger. “The movie was about a year after the attack on Malibu right?”

“It was New York, but correct. It’s been passed the year mark, but the way things roll out here is different than in the movie. Remember, there were two of me during the battle?”

Steve sighed. “What is that thing? It mean, it looks kind of like…well, a rock. But box shaped.”

“It’s not a rock.”

“I know that. Wait, is this that comet that hit Anchorage?”

“I’m sure it is. Also, with Nicholls on the news since the comet fell, I had a feeling it wasn’t actually a comet,” Loki commented. 

“Jim?”

“Yes, he’s been doing all the press for the event,” Loki reminded Steve. “He works for SHIELD now, remember?”

Steve sighed again and rubbed his eyes. 

“I wonder why they took so long to ask the resident alien?” Loki mused. 

Steve shrugged, resting his head on the back off Loki’s neck. “Are we going back to Anchorage?”

“We aren’t going anywhere, Steven,” Loki said, taping out his message to Coulson. “I am sure Agent Coulson’s new team will be able to solve the matter or simply hide the object away as they often do. They’ve been at it for awhile and Coulson got permission to bring me in finally. At least it’s not harming people like the helmet.”

Steve pulled back and moved so he could look at Loki’s face. “Can we go to bed and deal with this in the morning? You didn’t drink a lot of tea. You can come back to bed.”

If Steve hadn’t been wearing the puppy dog look, Loki would have said no, but the man was wearing that damn look, so Loki went back to bed. 

 

* * *

_Well he used to be somebody / And now he’s someone else / Took apart his old life, left it on the shelf_

_-Noah and the Whale, “Life is Life”_

* * *

“So, unfortunately, we all got worked up for nothing,” Jim finished, smile plastered on his face as he gave a proper press conference in an actual building as opposed to on the street. There was a backdrop for the military, a podium for him to stand at, and he even had cue cards (not that he needed them). 

“You’re expecting us to just believe all that damage was caused by a movie prop?” a reporter shouted, sounding miffed. 

“As you know I cannot go into details on how the object got into orbit and managed to crash land downtown, I can assure you it’s harmless and indeed a movie prop. We are still looking into how it wound up doing the damage it did and everyone is working towards fixing the street so traffic downtown will go back to normal,” he offered, smiling yet again. 

Jim wasn’t sure what exactly happened, but each time he had smiled at the reporters they tended to calm down and stop with the hard questions Jim had no answers to.

He knew less than they did at times. Jim might be the spokesperson for SHEILD, but he was pretty sure the non-agent named Skye knew more than he did about the strange object that had fallen to Earth. 

Not that Jim minded not knowing anything that was really going on, he preferred it that way as it made the job he was paid a hefty some of money to do a lot easier. He was simply pleased his first assignment was in Anchorage. He thought he’d gone a good job, even if he occasionally slipped up and said something that gave his time period away. 

“If there are no further questions, we will end here,” Jim finished. 

The press began shouting questions again, cameras clicked, but he ignored that and exited the room, moving passed the soldiers that seemed to follow him around. They did not move to follow him and he slipped down a bland hallway and walked till he found the room where he had put his things. He carefully shed the rather expensive suit SHIELD had given him, placed it in the carrier bag, messed his hair up (while inwardly cringing, as he didn’t like messing his hair up), and changed into street clothes. He still felt ill at ease in the clothing of the day, but according to those around him, he wore clothing well and looked fine.

“You ready?”

He jumped, not knowing Coulson was in the tiny room with him. 

“Sorry. I think there’s a light bulb out in that corner,” Coulson apologized, indicated to the ceiling. “I couldn’t resist.” 

Jim shook his head, grabbing the leather jacket that felt like overkill till the wind picked up. “Of course you couldn’t. Are you to accompany me out?”

“Well, it’s your first assignment,” Coulson said, giving Jim a small smile. “Figured you might have questions.”

“Not really. I played my part, spoke to the press, kept the reality of the situation hidden…” Jim trailed off not sure where he was going with the list he was making.

“You’re accent was spot on. Perfectly bland,” Coulson offered. “I figured you could use a ride. My team kind of stole your SUV.” 

Jim sighed. “That would be appreciated. Thank you.”

Coulson flipped a set of keys in his hands. “Always wanted to drive Lola in Alaska. Luckily, it’s sunny and we can put the top down.” 

Jim wasn’t sure if he liked the smile that appeared on Coulson’s face or not, but was glad he had the leather jacket. If only he had a proper hat. 

 

* * *

_I was dreaming of the past / And my heart was beating fast / I began to lose control, I began to loose control_

_-John Lennon, “Jealous Guy”_

* * *

“So, did you ever find out what that thing was that Coulson sent you the picture of?” Steve asked. 

“No.”

“You sound bitter.”

“I wish to know what it is. Evidently, I do not have clearance,” Loki grumped, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring the television. 

Steve sighed. “I know how that feels. There’s a lot I don’t have clearance for.”

“I have no clearance,” Loki seethed. 

“You don’t?” Steve asked, actually surprised. 

“I don’t work for SHIELD,” Loki reminded Steve. “So, no clearance. They just _use_ me.”

He did not sound pleased with this at all. Steve slipped out from behind the kitchen table where he’d been reading the newspaper (thankfully someone still printed a newspaper, so Steve didn’t have to fight with a StarkPad to get information on what was going on in the world) and sat down next to Loki on the couch in the TV Room. 

“I’m sure they don’t just use you,” Steve assured. “They value your input.”  

Loki cast Steve a look, then went back to glaring at the television, which was playing a clip of Jim giving a press conference about the object, which the US Military was reporting was just a movie prop the that had been launched into orbit to create chaos.

Or something along those lines. Steve was honestly confused what the story was, which was why it was still on the news three days later. (Or certain newscasters just like looking at Jim, which Steve couldn’t deny might be the reason.) 

(Steve was amazed no one was questioning why a so called retired British Army caption was speaking for the US military about something that happened on US soil.)

“We could speak to someone. Maybe get you on the payroll as a consultant.” 

“I do not need any payment, Steven,” Loki bit out. “I simply wish to know what dangerous objects are falling on Jessica.”

“It didn’t fall on her.”

“It could have. She lives there,” Loki snapped. 

“It could have landed anywhere, Lo,” Steve said in a quiet tone. 

The tone did what Steve had hoped and the tension Loki had been holding slowly bled out. “I know. But, it didn’t, Steven. It landed in Anchorage. The city Jessica chose to reside in. What if…what if…”

“Thanos,” Steve whispered the name. 

Loki nodded. “What if he threw that object at Midgard? What if he somehow figured out to get something here and I cannot get at it because SHIELD won’t tell me what it is or where it is from?!”

“You didn’t recognize it,” Steve reminded Loki. “Coulson did send it to you to ask you if you knew where it came from. They still might not know.”

Loki stomped his foot. “I could figure it out if I had my magic.”

Frustration radiated from Loki. Steve placed a hand on Loki’s arm, hoping to remind the Trickster where he was and to ground him to reality. While Loki didn’t often let his anger and frustration out (or allow it to show), Steve knew it was there and if Loki failed to keep a grasp on it, it might cause him to snap.  

“Maybe you could, maybe you couldn’t,” Steve quietly said, squeezing Loki’s arm a little harder than he’d squeeze anyone else. “But, you can’t. I can’t even know what that thing is. I don’t have high enough clearance.”

Loki cast him a dirty look before going back to glaring at the television. 

“What level are you?”

“Four,” Steve replied. “Seeing Peggy’s got level nine, I’m pretty darn low.”

“There are likely ten levels of clearance,” Loki muttered more to himself than to Steve. 

“We can see if Tony can hack into SHIELD for you,” Steve offered.

“I can hack into SHIELD faster,” Loki grumbled. “I don’t want to hack into SHIELD.”

Steve would have hit himself in the head for being so stupid. Of course Loki could hack into SHIELD faster than Stark if he wanted to. He was Loki, Master of Technology. 

“You know, if you want on the team, you just have to ask, you know.”

“No one wants Loki on a team,” Loki sneered. 

“I do.”

“You…you…you….” Loki fumbled around for words, his famed silver tongue failing him. 

Steve grinned. Loki snapped his mouth closed.

“The world doesn’t want Loki on a team. Loki is the bad guy,” Loki settled on. 

“Then be Luke,” Steve offered. “Also, SHIELD agents aren’t in the public eye.”

“You are.”

“I’m not technically an agent,” Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, his other still gripping Loki’s forearm to ground him to reality. “Yeah, they pay me, yeah they send me on missions, but I’m too…visible for a lot of these work SHIELD does.”

“I do not want top secret missions,” Loki said. “I do not wish to be gone. You are gone far too often. And I worry Jim will be gone far too often with this new job as the world falls apart.”

“Why is the world falling apart?” Steve asked. 

“Why else would SHEILD need a spokesperson with a magical smile?” Loki bit out. 

“He’s got a magical smile?”

“Well, that must be why they requested he do that inane job,” Loki spat. “He knows _nothing_.”

Steve held his tongue to point out Jim knew quite a bit, but it was true Jim knew very little about the world he was living in and much less about what SHIELD dealt with. Steve had been honestly confused when Jim had taken the job with SHIELD, but figured it gave him a purpose. That was why Steve was still with SHIELD. It was why he still did dancing monkey things sometimes. 

“Do you want to do that job? I get the feeling they tell him what to say and parade him around. Trust me, that’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Steve offered. 

Loki scoffed. 

“You could ask to formally to be a consultant,” Steve said softly. “It seems like you already are. Anything weird or alien, they tend to contact you.”

Loki huffed. 

“When Jim showed up, they called you in. They asked you about the Chitauri helmet thing,” Steve pointed out. “The cube thing or whatever it was fell, they asked you if you knew what it was…”

“I never get any follow up,” Loki grumped. 

“Well, you could do something rather than sit around the apartment pouting,” Steve suggested, removing his hand from Loki’s arm to stand. “What are you and Bruce doing?”

Loki looked as if Steve had thrown a fast ball at his head he whipped around so fast. 

“I know you and Bruce had been doing something,” Steve offered, rubbing the back of his neck as those light green eyes pinned him in place. (Stupid, pretty, stunning eyes…) “What are you working on?”

“We’re trying to create magic,” Loki admitted. “Only Bruce doesn’t call it magic. He has some complicated name consisting of a bunch of Earth science terms.”

“You’re teaching Bruce magic?”

“No,” Loki snorted. “We’re trying to create magic.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun. And it’ll annoy Stark,” Loki said, smiling and producing a spark of mischief in his eyes as he stared at Steve. 

Steve shook his head, trying not to roll his eyes. 

“The All-Father might have bound my magic, but it’s still there,” Loki admitted. “Bruce and I have been discovering the properties of it through my blood and trying to create something that can produce magic similar to my own. But of course, it will be limited to one spell. I figured something that can shoot flames or something. Small, able to fit in the pocket, only it will be able to be powerful.”

“You’re creating weapons?”

“Or something that grants invisibility,” Loki went one, not paying attention to Steve. “That would be useful, would it not? Maybe more than a fire arm. They have those already, but if you could make yourself vanish…”

Loki abruptly stood up and vanished from the room. Steve stood in front of the couch for a moment, before he headed back into the dining room to finish reading the paper. 

Sometimes Loki was like a child: to get him out of a foul mood, all you had to do was distract him with something else. It was a tactic that work quite well with Stark as well. (Not that Steve was going to tell either one of them this information.) 

 

* * *

_Flew me to places I’d never been, ’til you put me down, oh / I knew you trouble when you walked in / So shame on me now_

_-Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble”_

* * *

“So, what is it?”

“We’re not sure.”

“You’ve had it a week and you still don’t know?”

“No.”

“What are we going to do with it?”

“I believe SHIELD is going to have us dump it in the Sandbox.”

Skye sighed deeply. “Seriously?”

“It could be potentially dangerous,” Simmons warned her. “We have no idea what it does.”

“Except leak radiation,” Fitz offered. “Very minor radiation and something else we aren’t familiar with. So, it might not be harmless.” 

Skye gave him a look. 

The weird rock-box thingy hadn’t done anything since they’d first seen it other than leak radiation, gamma and one they couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t even harmful amounts of radiation. It hardly registered on any interment the levels were so low. 

After a week they’d made about as much progress at the military had before they’d arrived. 

Everyone had taken his or her turn to poked the rock-box and it just sat there. They threw things at it and it just sat there. Hell, they’d gone so far as trying to blow it up and it just sat there being all supposedly harmless. 

“Maybe it is a movie prop?” Skye suggested, poking it with a pen. 

It did nothing.

Fitz put the heavy, steel case on the table in the lab, next to the cube. 

“You belivin’ the story Nicholls told the world?” Fitz teased, putting on some gloves to pick the cube up. (While it was harmless, no one was taking any chances, as the  moment you accepted fully something wasn’t going to suddenly go all freaky, it went all alien and you died.) 

“Be careful!” Simmons cried, looking at her partner in crime with wide eyes. 

“I will be,” Fitz assured. 

Skye waited for something horrible to happen while Fitz picked the thing up and put the rock-box in the steel box.

Nothing happened.

“Oh my god, this was the most boring mission ever!” Skye exclaimed, allowing her head to fall to the table with a resounding thunk. 

“Jolly good!” came a British accent from the doorway to the lab that should not be on the plane. 

Skye snapped her head up to find Nicholls standing in the doorway, looking frighteningly normal. His hair was all artfully mussed and curling out of control (he seriously had some curly hair, yet didn’t look like a Brillo pad or anything) and he was wearing _jeans_. Who gave him _those_ jeans?

Life was so not fair. 

“Oh, hello!” Simmons greeted, huge smile painting her face. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us. Have you been here all this time?”

“Yeah, we’re over the ocean,” Fitz pointlessly pointed out. 

Nicholls grinned, but thankfully didn’t out all smile. (God help them if he did.) 

“I’ve been abroad since the airplane took off,” he replied. “It is some…airplane. Agent Coulson gave me a full tour.”

He appeared a little lost.

“Stop looking so cluelessly adorable,” Skye said, pushing herself up off the stool. “What are you doing on our plane?”

“Agent Coulson suggested I…get out of Alaska,” Nicholls answered. “I’m not exactly from around here, and while I did a topping job, I do have room to approve.”

“Topping?” Skye echoed. 

Simmons laughed, sounding a little self-conscious. “Excellent.”

“I figured,” Skye muttered. 

Nicholls ran a hand through his blond curls, somehow not making them all frizzy and ugly. 

“Is your hair real?” Skye blurted out.

“Yes, it’s quite real,” he griped, his eyes rolling upwards to glare at his hair. 

“No one likes the hair they have,” Simmons offered kindly. 

Fitz snorted. 

Nicholls glanced around the lab, but still did not enter the room. He clasped his hands behind his back and asked, “So, are all your missions boring, or was this one an exception to the rule?”

“It’s a mixture,” Fitz said, hauling the heavy case off the table. It almost caused him to topple over. Nicholls rushed forward and helped Fitz steady the crate and himself. “But, usually field works is rather exciting, yes?”

He glanced over his shoulder at Skye and Simmons.

“Oh, yes, greatly exciting, yes,” Simmons agreed.

“Keeps me not bored,” Skye offered. 

Nicholls straightened and moved away from Fitz once the shorter man had a handle on the crate and clearly did not want his help. 

“So, what’s the spokesperson for SHEILD gonna do for us?” Skye asked. “SHEILD tends to keep mum on things.”

Nicholls made a face of cluelessness. “That I cannot answer.”

Then he smiled. (DAMN HIM.) 

“SHIELD seems to believe you get the more high profile cases, so my being around would be…pertinent.” 

 _Your being around might kill me_ , Skye thought as he smiled some more. 

Simmons dreamily sighed a little loudly. “You’ve got a lovely smile.”

“Thank you,” Nicholls said, nodding his head towards her. “What is this room?”

Simmons launched into an explanation. Skye watched the pair wearily as Fitz made his way back into the room having handed the box with the rock-box off to Ward to get ready for transport off the plane when they reached the Sandbox. 

“We’ve got a mission,” Coulson said, appearing out of nowhere. “We’re heading to London after the drop. Physics has gotten drunk.” 

 

* * *

_Starlight, straight up into the sky / Oh, my, my a solar system that fits into your eye_

_-Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Parallel Universe”_


End file.
